Brake-band.



J. F. SMITH.

BRAKE BAND.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 20, m1.

Patented July 30, 1918.

INVENTOR Jafm F Smifh.

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

JOHN F. SMITH, OF SEATTLE, W ASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR OF FIFTY-FIVE ONE- HUNDREDTHS '1O HENRY B. BURKHART, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

BRAKE-13am).

Specifloationof Letters Patent.

Patented July 30, 1918.

Application filed December 20, 1917. Serial No. 208,026.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, JOHN F. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of bandsand especially to that class which are employed to act against the internal surface of an automobile brake drum.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of an efficient brake bandof this nature which will be of relatively light weight and constructed to have theparts proportioned to afford ample strength and durability with an economy of material.

vA further object is to produce a brake band of this character which will be of simple and relatively inexpensive construction.

The-invention consists in a novelform of brake band and in the manner in which the same is produced from an angle bar.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevational view of an embodiment of my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional views through 22 and 33 of Fig.1. Fig. 4 is a distended plan view 'of the band after being cut or formed from a blank or bar, as indicated by broken lines in the view. Fig. 5 is a front elevational view of the distended band shown in Fig. 4.

The blankfrom which my improved band is constructed is in the nature of an angle bar 10 of steel or wrought iron having rectangularly disposed flanges denoted by 11 and 12 in Figs. 1 and 2. The flange 11, which constitutes the Web of the band, when finished is cut away at its ends, as at 13, to afford extremities 14 on the flange 12 which protrude beyond the ends 15 of the latter.

The web flange 11 is, moreover, cut away as shown in Fig. 4, to provide a sinusoidal edge comprismg alternating convex and concave portions 16 and 17, respectively. The

flange 11 is then punched to provide a hole 18 intermediate its length to accommodate the pivot'pi-n, not shown, by which the completed band is connected to a non-rotatable part of the brake housing, as usual.

The blank, as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5,

is then heated and subjected to pressure in a suitable forming machine to bend the ex-' tremities' 14 of the flange 12 against the adjacent ends 15 of the web and the bar formed into a circular shape, as shOWn in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, of a diameter slightly less than that of the interior of the drum in which it is to be employed. .v

The band thus produced will have its web 12 narrowest at :vw on the plane 3-3, whence. it widens to the maximum widths at the ends 15 and at the hole 18 at the diametricallv opposite side of the band, thereby affording a substantially elliptical shaped opening inclosed by the web.

The advantages of the invention reside in its simplicity, sti ength with suflicient resiliency to obviate the use of springs, low cost of manufacture and perfect adaptation to the purposes for which intended.

What I claim is-.

1. The process of making an expansible brake band from'an angle bar, consisting in cutting the web element thereof to be of less length than the flange element and to have a sinusoidal outer edge, punching a hole in the Web at its midlength, bending the protruding portions of the flange at substantially r1 ght angles and against the respective ends of said flange, and then bending the bar thus formed into a substantially circular.

shape.

2. The process of making an expansible brake band from a bar having rectangularly disposed flange and web elements, consisting in cutting away the web element at its ends and also along its edge so as to afford relatively narrow portions between the midlength of the bar and each extremity, then bending the bar so that the extremities of the flange will bear against the respective ends of the web, and forming the bar into circular shape with the web directed inwardly and the ends of the bar in proximity to each other.

' 3. As a new article of manufacture,.a brake band consisting of an angle bar formed into a circular shape to provide a,

web element extending inwardly from one edge of a peripheral flange, the latter Having its extremities bent to extend in a direction radially of the band and against the Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 12th ends of said Web, said Web being wider at day of December, 1917. the aforesaid ends and at the part of the band diametrically opposite thereto, whence JOHN SMITH 5 the Web is tapered to relatively narrow pcr-' Witnesses:

tions at diametrically opposite sides ofthe PIERRE BARNES,

band. H. B. BURKHART. 

